Ivy Mountain Battlefield

U.S. 23, Ivel, KY 41642, USA

In the fall of 1861, General William "Bull" Nelson, Union commander in northeastern Kentucky, was ordered to break up a large Confederate recruiting camp in Prestonsburg. In what would be the first major clash in eastern Kentucky, Confederate Capt. Andrew Jackson May's recruits took up positions at this site, where they waited in ambush. The Battle of Ivy Mountain ended the first phase of the struggle for the Big Sandy Valley.